(Ecofin Agency) - Tullow Oil has postponed the payment of dividends to its stakeholders, reduced finance for new exploration and has restricted capital expenses to key projects, Kenyan Wallstreet reports.

According to the company’s annual report for 2015, Tullow has also laid-off some of its staff in an effort to survive during this tough time for the oil industry.

“There has been a relentless focus on cost control during 2015. Exploration expenditure was cut to $256 million (from $799 million in 2014) while capital expenditure was limited to key projects, such as TEN in Ghana, which will generate strong future cash flow even at low oil prices,” Simon Thompson, Tullow’s chairman said.

While Tullow Oil paid $0.4 as dividend per share in 2014, no dividend was paid to shareholders in 2015 due to a net loss of $1,037 million for that year compared to the $1,640 paid in 2014 after taxes.

The decline in the global oil prices came at a time that Tullow had sustained substantial capital expenditure for the $5 billion TEN project, which is scheduled to produce its first oil in August.

“The restructuring of the business has not been achieved without sacrifice. Shareholders have seen their dividend suspended and many respected and valued members of staff have been made redundant while many of those who remained have seen their responsibilities and workload increase,” Thompson added.

Generally, 2014 and 2015 was a tough year as companies slash capital expenditures with exploration budgets being affected the most. Close to 46 major development projects had been postponed, according to a Wood Mackenzie report released in August 2015.

Anita Fatunji